Investigators prepare to remove Walsall pilot's crash wreckage
The aircraft is believed to have been a Piper Cherokee based at a flying club in the Lichfield area.
Last night all rail services on the West Coast Mainline between Rugby and Stafford remained suspended and British Transport Police warned the line was unlikely to be fully repaired this weekend.
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2 POLICE Aircraft Substitute
Members of the Sittles Flying Club, which operates from an airfield near Fradley, Staffordshire, paid tribute to Mr Matthews as a ``nice chap'' with many years of experience as a pilot.
Among three floral tributes placed at the gates of a maintenance yard near the crash site was one from members of the club.
The bouquet had a card attached which read: “All our thoughts and prayers are with you. Fly in Peace.”
Club member John Gattrell told the Press Association: “Alan was very experienced and very well-liked by all the club’s members.
“He will be sorely missed by us all.”
Fellow club member Richard Morris said of the married father: “He was a very nice chap and he was one of our long-standing members at the club.
“We are all deeply shocked to hear of this accident - he was a very good, experienced flyer and we are just totally shocked really.”
A statement issued by the club on its website also paid tribute to Mr Matthews.
The statement read: “Alan was one of our most senior and respected pilots at Sittles.
“We will miss him deeply. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his wife and family at this terrible time.”
